Sunday, November 11, 2007

Service to Others...

Kindergarten teachers this year wanted to do something to teach their youngsters about more than academics. They realize that our children are being raised in a time surrounded by it’s “all about me.” Haley Alvarado made the first suggestions about using the platform we have as teachers to show our children that relationships, that caring, that thinking about other people is one of the great lessons in life. Even though Haley was the first to bring it up, the kindergarten teachers were instantly of one mind in their desire to make her vision a reality.

The first of these “projects” is “Alex’s Lemonade Stand.” Each teacher will invite her class to host a Lemonade Stand during one of our parent events during the course of the year. The Timmonte Team was the first to host at our Annual Parent Night. The Mackarado Team hosted at our annual Pow Wow Make 'n' Take and had over a hundred people come through for a cup of lemonade! Alex was a 4-year-old child stricken with cancer who hosted her own Lemonade Stand in her parents' front yard to raise money for research before she succumbed to the disease. All year our kindergartners will be raising money for childhood cancer research as they sell their lemonade.

The Timmontes used their lessons at the Lemonade Stand for this month’s bulletin board. To reinforce non-fiction writing they read to the children Alex’s story on the Internet so they would understand the purpose behind what they were doing. In their unit of non-fiction writing, the children wrote about “How to Make Lemonade” as they learned in preparation for the night event. Others who participated in the selling wrote about “How to Sell Lemonade.” The class even integrated math as they kept tally marks to make sure that they knew how many cups were sold. All this learning for such an authentic event! Does it get any more real than this?

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About Me

I am a lifelong teacher who is dually certified in both Elementary Education and Special Education. I was Nationally Board Certified in 2002. My friends have affectionately referred to me as the "Queen" since I served my state as the "2004 Florida Teacher of the Year." My number one mission has always been simply "to make a difference."